Live media captioning subscription framework for mobile devices

ABSTRACT

A subscription-based system provides transcribed audio information to one or more mobile devices. Some techniques feature a system for providing subscription services for currently-generated (e.g., not stored) information (e.g., caption information, transcribed audio) for one or more mobile devices for a live/current audio event. There can be a communication network for communicating to the one or more mobile devices, a transcriber configured for transcribing the event to generate information (e.g., caption information, transcribed audio). Caption data includes transcribed data and control code data. The system includes a subscription gateway configured for live/current transfer of the transcribed data to the one or more mobile devices. The subscription gateway is configured to provide access for the transcribed data to the one or more mobile devices. User preferences for subscribers can be set and/or updated by mobile device users and/or GPS-capable mobile devices to receive feeds for the live/current audio event.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority from U.S. patentapplication entitled “A Real-Time Captioning Framework for MobileDevices”, application Ser. No. 11/087,023 filed Mar. 21, 2005, now U.S.Pat. No. 7,421,477, the disclosure of which is incorporated byreference. This application is a continuation-in-part of applicationSer. No. 11/087,023. This application further claims the benefit ofpriority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application entitled “A Real-TimeCaptioning Framework for Mobile Devices”, Application No. 60/554,896filed Mar. 19, 2004, the disclosure of which is incorporated byreference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to media content, in particular mediacontent that is captioned for mobile applications and devices.

BACKGROUND

Traditional captioning devices, such as televisions and displaymonitors, combine text with a video broadcast, in which the textrepresents a transcribed audio portion of the video. The captions can beeither closed captions or open captions. For closed captions, thecaption data is embedded in a video signal, and the captions are notdisplayed unless they are decoded. The text or caption data is embeddedin line 21 of the vertical blanking interval (VBI) in analog television.The VBI is an interval in a television signal that temporarily suspendstransmission of the signal for an electron gun to move to the first lineof a television screen for the next screen field. The VBI can be used tocarry data, such as a test signal or the closed-captioning data.

Closed captioned data created for analog television may use protocolsdescribed by the EIA (Electronics Industry Association) 608 Standard.Closed captioned protocols for digital television may be described inthe EIA 708 Standard. In a digital transmission, such as withhigh-definition television, the EIA 708 captioning data can be encodedin user data packets in an MPEG compressed video stream.

When captions are decoded, the captions can be displayed on the screen.Typically, captions can be decoded at the display device. Open captionsmay be already decoded in the video signal and may be displayed onscreen, such as subtitles in foreign films. In broadcast transmissionsystems, caption data may be transmitted to an encoder that may includetext and control codes.

Caption data may also be provided to the internet using transcribed datafrom broadcast sources, such as broadcast radio or television signals.For instance, a caption writer for a radio station may transcribe abroadcast program from the radio station to post on the radio station'sweb page. In another example, a caption writer may caption the audioportion of a television signal and send the caption data to an encoderdevice at a broadcast facility for inclusion in the video transmission.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure describes methods, systems, and techniques forsubscription-based services for captioned media content. Information forthe captioned media content may be created in real time and accessibleto mobile devices. The information may include special reports,emergency news, alerts, news updates on a variety of topics, and reportson sports and/or financial news. Some information may be accessible tomobile devices on a fee basis via an authentication mechanism utilizinguser names and password protection. Alternatively, some information maybe freely provided, as long as the mobile device user remains asubscriber. The content sent to the user may be individually customizedbased on the subscriber's preferences.

In one general aspect, the techniques feature a system for providingsubscription services for near-real time caption information for one ormore mobile devices. The system includes a communication network forcommunicating to the one or more mobile devices, a transcriber connectedwith the communication network and configured for transcribing an eventto generate caption data. The caption data includes transcribed data andcontrol code data. The system includes a subscription gateway configuredfor near real time transfer of the transcribed data over thecommunication network to the one or more mobile devices. Thesubscription gateway is configured to provide access for the transcribeddata to the one or more mobile devices.

Advantageous implementations can include one or more of the followingfeatures. The system can be configured to transfer transcribed data toat least two mobile devices simultaneously. The communication networkmay involve the Internet, and the subscription gateway can be configuredto send notices and alerts to subscribers using the one or more mobiledevices based on subscriber preferences.

The system also includes an external subscription database to storeinformation associated with subscribers of the near real time captioninformation. The use of subscriber preferences may involve sendingtranscribed event information to a mobile device of the subscriber basedon any of an area code, a country code, and a zip code. The system mayalso include a device with captioning functionality and a display topresent caption data and a decoder to decode the caption data forpresentation on the device comprising captioning functionality. Thesystem may be further configured for near real time transfer of thecaption data to the decoder.

The subscription gateway may include a transcription device interface tointeract with the transcriber, an encoder interface to interact with anexternal encoder that encodes the caption data, and a subscriberdatabase to store information associated with subscribers of the nearreal time caption information. The subscription gateway may also includea subscriber database interface to interact with an external subscriberdatabase that is configured to store information associated withsubscribers of the near real time caption information. The informationassociated with the subscribers may include subscriber preferences forcaption information. The subscription gateway may have a communicationnetwork interface to interact with the communication network andtransmit event data, as well as a server interface to interact with anexternal server. The one or more mobile devices can be configured tointeract with the external server and the communication network.

In another general aspect, a subscription-based method for sending nearreal time caption information to one or more mobile devices involvestranscribing an event to generate device-generated caption data havingcontrol codes, removing the control codes from the caption data toproduce text data, searching a database of caption informationsubscribers to locate one or more subscribers subscribed to receive thetext data for the event, and sending the text data to one or more mobiledevices over a communication network.

Advantageous implementations can include one or more of the followingfeatures. The method may also involve receiving information associatedwith zip codes, telephone country codes, telephone number area codes,and city and state names from the one or more mobile devices. The methodmay involve comparing any of the received information with zip codes,telephone country codes, telephone number area codes, and city and statenames stored in the database, and providing event data to the one ormore mobile devices when information received from the one or moremobile devices corresponds with similar or the same information storedin the database.

The communication network may include any one of a satellite channel, atelephony channel, an optical channel, a wireless channel, a cablechannel, and an internet channel. The event data provided may be basedon a geographic region relating to any of the zip codes and telephonecodes, in which the event data may include local news, weather alerts,traffic reports, and emergency information. The method may involvepresenting one or more real-time captioning streams from one or moreevents to subscribers using one or more mobile devices based onsubscriber preferences. The method may include authenticatingsubscribers based on a user name and a password stored in the database,in which the transcribing involves using a transcription device to addcontrol codes to the transcribed data. The method may involve encryptingthe text data and/or the subscriber data prior to sending the text datato the one or more mobile devices over the communication network. Thetext data and subscriber preferences can be displayed on the one or moremobile devices.

In another general aspect, an article including a machine-readablemedium storing instructions operable to cause a machine to performoperations including receiving information from a mobile device forsubscriber preferences for media content to be sent to the mobiledevice, and searching a database that has information for subscribers ofmedia content. The media content involves real-time streaming data oftranscribed data sent over a communication network. The operationsinclude sending the transcribed data to the mobile device, in which thesubscriber preferences include a zip code, an area code, and/or acountry code.

Advantageous implementations can include one or more of the followingfeatures. The transcribed data may include control code data for acaption target. The caption target may have closed-captioningfunctionality. The text data can be sent to the mobile device and thetranscribed data can be sent to the caption target simultaneously. Thetext data can be sent to the mobile device and the transcribed data issent to the caption target in near real time.

The operations may include selecting the media content based on any of azip code, an area code, and a country code, and sending an alert to themobile device that media content is available to the sent to the mobiledevice. The media content can include news, weather alerts, trafficreports, and emergency information that is specific to any of the zipcodes, area codes, and/or country codes.

In one general aspect, the techniques feature a system for providingnear real time caption information for one or more mobile devices. Thesystem includes a communication network for communicating to the mobiledevices, and a transcriber connected with the communication network. Thetranscriber is configured to transcribing audio of an event to generatecaption data, in which the caption data includes transcribed text dataand control code data. The system is further configured for near realtime transfer of the transcribed audio text data over the communicationnetwork to the one or more mobile devices.

In another general aspect, the techniques feature a method for sendingnear real time caption information to one or more mobile devices. Themethod involves transcribing audio to text of an event to generatecaption data having control codes, removing the control codes from thecaption data to produce text data, and sending the text data to one ormore mobile devices over a communication network. The event can be abroadcasted media event, which can include audio.

In another general aspect, the techniques feature an article thatincludes a machine-readable medium storing instructions operable tocause a machine to perform operations. The operations involve generatingtranscribed data from a transcription device, sending text data from thetranscribed data to a mobile device using a communication network, andsending the transcribed data from the transcription device to a captiontarget. The text data is sent to the mobile device and the transcribeddata is sent to the caption target simultaneously. The text data is sentto the mobile device and the transcribed data is sent to the captiontarget in near real time.

In another general aspect, the techniques feature an article thatincludes a machine-readable medium storing instructions operable tocause a machine to perform operations. The operations involvetranscribing audio data from a radio broadcast, and sending thetranscribed audio data to at least one mobile device using acommunication network. The operation of sending the data involves nearreal-time transmission of the transcribed audio data. The communicationnetwork is coupled to at least one mobile device.

A transcription device may be used in the operation of transcribing theaudio data. The operations may also include using a software program toremove closed-captioning control codes from the transcribed audio dataprior to sending the transcribed audio data to at least one mobiledevice. The transcribed audio data may involve audio data that istranscribed into text data. The audio data may be voice data.

In one exemplary implementation, a system includes a communicationnetwork, such as the Internet, and one or more mobile devices coupled tothe communication network. The system includes a transcription device totranscribe data in real time or near real time (e.g., real time with avery small time delay). The transcribed data includes text data andcontrol code data. The control code data is used by one or morecaptioning devices to display caption data. The control code data isremoved from transcribed data, and the mobile devices receive text datavia the communication network. The system can simultaneously sendtranscribed data to one or more captioning devices, while sending thetext data to one or more mobile devices. Subscribers of transcribedmedia content can receive real time news reports, emergency information,and alerts on their mobile devices.

Aspects of the disclosed techniques involve a system for providinginformation for one or more mobile devices. The system includes a serverfor communicating to the one or more mobile devices for one or moreusers, in which the one or more mobile devices includes GlobalPositioning System (GPS) capabilities. The system includes asubscription gateway configured to receive a user preference fortranscribed audio for an audio event associated with a geographiclocation specified by the user, the user preference comprising any of anarea code, a country code, a zip code, a state name, a country name, acity name, a radio station identifier, or a television stationidentifier. The subscription gateway includes a subscriber database tostore information associated with the users of the one or more mobiledevices. At least one of the mobile devices includes a softwareselection for a user option to utilize the GPS capabilities to updatethe user preference based on a geographic location of the mobile devicewith a selected user option. The system includes a stenocaptioningdevice configured for transcribing audio for the audio eventsimultaneously with an occurrence of the audio event. Thestenocaptioning device is further configured to generate caption datathat includes transcribed data and control code data. The systemincludes a captioning device to receive the caption data, and a softwaretool configured to remove the control code data from the caption data togenerate American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) textdata. The system is configured for transfer of the text data over theserver to the one or more mobile devices and transfer of caption data tothe captioning device. The system is configured for transfers of thetext data and caption data that occur coincidentally with thetranscribing of audio for the audio event. The system is configured forconcurrent transfer of the text data to the one or more mobile devicesand the caption data to the captioning device.

These and other implementations can optionally include one or more ofthe following features. The system can be configured to transfer thetext data to at least two of the mobile devices simultaneously. Thesystem may further include a communication network with Internetfunctionality, and the subscription gateway can be configured to sendnotices and alerts to users of the one or more mobile devices based onat least one user preference. The system can include a subscriptiondatabase that is external to the subscription gateway to storeinformation associated with the users of the one or more mobile devicesor the user of the captioning device. The user preference further caninclude a request for the transcribed audio. At least one of the devicescan include an Internet Protocol (IP). The radio and television stationidentifiers can be associated with at least one audio source. The systemcan include a decoder to decode the caption data for presentation on thecaptioning device. The captioning device can be a device includingcaptioning functionality. The stenocaptioning device can be a devicewith a stenographic keyboard, a computing device having software withcaptioning functionality, or a computing device having voice recognitionsoftware and captioning functionality. The subscription gateway caninclude: a transcription device interface to interact with thestenocaptioning device; an encoder interface to interact with anexternal encoder that encodes the caption data; a subscriber databaseinterface to interact with an external subscriber database configured tostore information associated with the users of the one or more mobiledevices or the user of the captioning device, in which the informationassociated with the any of the users comprises subscriber preferencesfor the transcribed audio; a communication network interface to interactwith a communication network; and a server interface to interact withthe server, in which the one or more mobile devices can be configured tointeract with the server and the communication network.

In some aspects, some implementations feature a method for sendingtranscribed audio information to one or more mobile devices. The methodincludes communicating, via a server, to the one or more mobile devicesfor one or more users, in which the one or more mobile devices includesGlobal Positioning System (GPS) capabilities. The method includesreceiving, via a subscription gateway, a user preference for transcribedaudio for an audio event associated with a geographic location specifiedby the user. The user preference includes any of an area code, a countrycode, a zip code, a state name, a country name, a city name, a radiostation identifier, and/or a television station identifier. Thesubscription gateway includes a subscriber database to store informationassociated with the users of the one or more mobile devices, and atleast one of the mobile devices includes a software selection for a useroption to utilize the GPS capabilities to update the user preferencebased on a geographic location of the mobile device with a selected useroption. The method includes transcribing audio with a stenocaptioningdevice for the audio event simultaneously with an occurrence of theaudio event, in which the stenocaptioning device is configured togenerate caption data that comprises transcribed data and control codedata. The method involves receiving the caption data with the captioningdevice, removing the control code data from the caption data with asoftware tool to generate American Standard Code for InformationInterchange (ASCII) text data, transferring the text data over theserver to the one or more mobile devices, and transferring the captiondata to the captioning device. The transfers of the text data andcaption data occur coincidentally with the transcribing of audio for theaudio event, and there is concurrent transfer of the text data to theone or more mobile devices and the caption data to the captioningdevice.

These and other implementations can optionally include one or more ofthe following features. The user preference for transcribed audio forthe audio event can include a preference for a type of audio event. Themethod may further include searching the subscriber database to locateone or more users subscribed to receive the text data for the audioevent. The method may involve the following: receiving informationassociated with zip codes, telephone country codes, telephone numberarea codes, the city name, the state name, the country name, the radiostation identifier, and/or the television station identifier from theone or more mobile devices; comparing any of the received informationwith zip codes, telephone country codes, telephone number area codes,radio station identifiers, television station identifiers, audiosources, video sources, or city, state, or country names in thedatabase; and providing the text data to the one or more mobile deviceswhen information received from the one or more mobile devicescorresponds with similar information in the database. Any of thetransfers of data may utilize a communication network that includes anyone of a satellite channel, a telephony channel, an optical channel, awireless channel, a cable channel, and an Internet channel. The datarelated to the audio event can be received based on the geographiclocation associated with any of the following: zip codes, telephonecountry codes, telephone number area codes, the city name, the statename, the country name, the radio station identifier, or the televisionstation identifier. The transcribed audio can be associated with news, aweather report, a traffic report, a sporting event, a broadcasted event,or emergency information. The method may include presenting one or moredata streams of text from one or more audio events to users using theone or more mobile devices based on user preferences. The method mayinvolve authenticating users of the one or more mobile devices based onuser names and passwords in one or more databases, and transferring thetext data to at least two of the mobile devices simultaneously. Thetransfer to a first one of the at least two mobile devices can at leastpartially overlap in time with the transfer to a second one of the atleast two mobile devices. The method may involve encrypting the textdata prior to transferring the text data to the one or more mobiledevices. The radio and television station identifiers can be associatedwith at least one audio source. The method can involve transferring datato the one or more devices for displaying the text data, the userpreference, a menu of audio events, or geographic location information.The transfer of data to the one or more devices can involve transferringdata to the one or more devices within an order of a few seconds fromthe occurrence of the audio event. The transfer of data to the one ormore devices can include transferring data to the one or more deviceswithin forty five seconds from the occurrence of the audio event (e.g.,<45 sec). The transfer of data to the one or more devices can includetransferring data to the one or more devices within thirty seconds fromthe occurrence of the audio event (e.g., <30 sec). The transfer of datato the one or more devices can include transferring data to the one ormore devices within twenty seconds from the occurrence of the audioevent (e.g., <20 sec). The transfer of data to the one or more devicescan include transferring data to the one or more devices within tenseconds from the occurrence of the audio event (e.g., <10 sec). Thetransfer of data to the one or more devices can include transferringdata to the one or more devices within five sections from the occurrenceof the audio event (e.g., <5 sec). The method can involve receiving dataat the one or more mobile devices within an order of a few seconds fromthe occurrence of the audio event. Any of the methods described hereincan involve receiving data at the one or more mobile devices from theoccurrence of the audio event within any particular time frame specifiedwithin this disclosure (e.g., within 45 sec, or 30 sec, or 20 sec, or 10sec, or 5 sec).

In some aspects, some implementations feature an article including amachine-readable medium storing instructions operable to cause a machineto perform operations. The instructions include communicating, via aserver, to one or more mobile devices for one or more user, in which theone or more mobile devices includes Global Positioning System (GPS)capabilities. The instructions include receiving, via a subscriptiongateway, a user preference for transcribed audio for an audio eventassociated with a geographic location specified by the user, in whichthe user preference includes any of an area code, a country code, a zipcode, a state name, a country name, a city name, a radio stationidentifier, and/or a television station identifier. The subscriptiongateway includes a subscriber database to store information associatedwith the users of the one or more mobile devices, and at least one ofthe mobile devices includes a software selection for a user option toutilize the GPS capabilities to update the user preference based on ageographic location of the mobile device with a selected user option.Further instructions involve transcribing audio with a stenocaptioningdevice for the audio event simultaneously with an occurrence of theaudio event, in which the stenocaptioning device is configured togenerate caption data that includes transcribed data and control codedata. The instructions include receiving the caption data with thecaptioning device, removing the control code data from the caption datawith a software tool to generate American Standard Code for InformationInterchange (ASCII) text data, transferring the text data over theserver to the one or more mobile devices, and transferring the captiondata to the captioning device. The transfers of the text data andcaption data occur coincidentally with the transcribing of audio for theaudio event, and there is concurrent transfer of the text data to theone or more mobile devices and the caption data to the captioningdevice.

These and other implementations can optionally include one or more ofthe following features. The transcribed data can be generated from thestenocaptioning device, a computing device having software withcaptioning functionality, or a computing device including voicerecognition software and captioning functionality. The article mayinclude instructions operable to cause the machine to perform thefollowing operations: receiving information from one of the mobiledevices for user preferences for media content to be sent to the mobiledevice; searching one or more databases for media content, in which themedia content includes streaming ASCII text data of the transcribedaudio; and sending the text data to the mobile device that sent theinformation corresponding with the user preference. The user preferencemay include a video source identifier or an audio source identifier. Thearticle can have instructions for selecting the media content based onany of the zip code, the area code, the country code, the radio stationidentifier, the television station identifier, the audio sourceidentifier, and/or the video source identifier. The radio and televisionstation identifiers can be associated with at least one audio source.The article may further include instructions for sending an alert or anindicator to the mobile device that the transcribed audio correspondingto user preferences is available to be sent to the mobile device. Themedia content can include any of the following: a news report, a weatherreport, a traffic report, a sporting event, a broadcasted event, and/oremergency information that is associated with any of the zip code, thearea code, the country code, the city name, the state name, the countryname, the radio station identifier, the television station identifier,the audio source identifier, and/or the video source identifier. Thearticle can include instructions for displaying the text data on the oneor more mobile devices as the text data arrives to the one or moremobile devices. The article may include instructions to cause the textdata to be displayed as scrolling text, and instructions to transfer thetext data via the Internet.

In some aspects, some implementations feature a subscription gateway forhandling transcribed audio data. The subscription gateway includes aserver interface for receiving one or more data feeds of transcribedaudio data concurrently as audio data is transcribed into text data fora live event. The transcribed audio data includes American Standard Codefor Information Interchange (ASCII) text data and wrapper data, in whichthe wrapper data includes one or more client identifiers. The one ormore client identifies can include a station name, a call sign, an areacode, and/or a zip code. The subscription gateway includes a server forcommunicating with one or more mobile devices that are configured toreceive the text data based on at least one user subscription. Theserver is configured for transmitting the text data to the one or moremobile devices concurrently with the reception of the transcribed audiodata into the server interface. The subscription gateway includes asubscription server for processing one or more user preferences of usersof the one or more mobile devices, and for authenticating one or moreuser subscriptions for receiving the text data on the one or more mobiledevices.

These and other implementations can optionally include one or more ofthe following features. The subscription server can be configured forauthenticating one or more subscribers that are permitted to receive thedata feeds on the one or more mobile devices as the data feeds are beingreceived by the server interface. The authentication can includeutilizing at least one user name or password. The one or more userpreferences can include a user preference for transcribed audio data foran audio event associated with a geographic location specified by theuser or at least one mobile device utilizing a Global Positioning System(GPS) to specify the geographic location. The user preference caninclude any of an area code, a country code, a zip code, a state name, acountry name, a city name, a radio station identifier, and/or atelevision station identifier. The subscription gateway includes asubscriber database to store information associated with the users ofthe one or more mobile devices. The subscription gateway can includesoftware to associate the user preference with the wrapper data toassociate a data feed corresponding to the specified geographiclocation. The subscription server can be configured to executeinstructions relating to a subscription status, user accountinformation, payment information, or a subscription term or condition.The subscription gateway can be configured to interact with acommunication network that is coupled to a caption target that receivescaption data corresponding to the transcribed audio data. Thetranscribed audio data and/or caption data can be compatible with anElectronics Industry Association 708 standard (EIA 708). Thesubscription server can include software to categorize any of the userpreferences. The categorization can include geographic information, areacodes, zip codes, station identifiers, event types, audio sources, videosources, client identifiers, news categories, sports news orinformation, and/or financial news or information. The text data can bea product of a digital television data stream. Alternatively, the textdata can be a product of an analog television data transmission. Thetransmission of the text data via the server to the one or more mobiledevices can involve bypassing any text data storage units (if any)during the transmission to the one or more mobile devices. Thesubscription gateway can be text data storage unit-less (e.g., without astorage unit for text data). The event can be an audio event. Thesubscription gateway can include a software tool for sending an alert oran indicator to at least one mobile device that live transcribed audiodata for a live audio event corresponding to at least one userpreference is available to be sent to at least the one mobile device.The transcribed audio data can be a product of caption data that hascontrol codes removed from the caption data.

In some aspects, some implementations feature a method for handlingtranscribed audio data. The method can include receiving one or moredata feeds of transcribed audio data in a server interface concurrentlyas audio data is transcribed into text data for a live event. Thetranscribed audio data can include American Standard Code forInformation Interchange (ASCII) text data and wrapper data. The wrapperdata can include one or more client identifiers, in which the one ormore client identifies comprises a station name, a call sign, an areacode, or a zip code. The method includes the following: communicatingvia a server with one or more mobile devices that are configured toreceive the text data based on at least one user subscription;transmitting the text data via the server to the one or more mobiledevices concurrently with the reception of the transcribed audio datainto the server interface; processing one or more user preferences ofusers of the one or more mobile devices with a subscription server; andutilizing the subscription server to authenticate one or more usersubscriptions for receiving the text data on the one or more mobiledevices.

These and other implementations can optionally include one or more ofthe following features. The method can include utilizing thesubscription server to authenticate one or more subscribers that arepermitted to receive the data feeds on the one or more mobile devices asthe data feeds are being received by the server interface. Theauthentication can include utilizing at least one user name or password.The one or more user preferences can include a user preference fortranscribed audio data for an audio event associated with a geographiclocation specified by the user or at least one mobile device utilizing aGlobal Positioning System (GPS) to specify the geographic location. Theuser preference can include any of an area code, a country code, a zipcode, a state name, a country name, a city name, a radio stationidentifier, or a television station identifier. The method can involveutilizing a subscriber database to store information associated with theusers of the one or more mobile devices. The method can involveassociating the user preference with the wrapper data to associate adata feed corresponding to the specified geographic location. The methodcan include executing instructions with the subscription server relatingto a subscription status, user account information, payment information,and/or a subscription term or condition. The method can includeinteracting with a communication network that is coupled to a captiontarget that receives caption data corresponding to the transcribed audiodata. The transcribed audio data or caption data is compatible with anElectronics Industry Association 708 standard (EIA 708). The method caninclude categorizing any of the user preferences with the subscriptionserver. The categorization can include geographic information, areacodes, zip codes, station identifiers, event types, audio sources, videosources, client identifiers, news categories, sports news orinformation, and financial news or information. The method can includeproducing the text data from a digital television data stream or ananalog television data transmission. The method can involve transmittingthe text data to the one or more mobile devices by bypassing any textdata storage units during the transmission to the one or more mobiledevices. The method can include sending an alert or an indicator to atleast one mobile device that live transcribed audio data for a liveaudio event corresponding to at least one user preference is availableto be sent to the at least the one mobile device. The transcribed audiodata can be a product of caption data that has control codes removedfrom the caption data, and the caption data can be a product of astenocaptioning device. Transmitting the text data to the one or moredevices can involve transmitting the text data to the one or moredevices within an order of a few seconds from an occurrence of the eventthat is being transcribed. Alternatively, transmitting the text data tothe one or more devices can involve receiving the text data at the oneor more devices within an order of a few seconds from an occurrence ofthe event that is being transcribed.

In some aspects, some implementations feature an article that includes amachine-readable medium storing instructions operable to cause a machineto perform operations. The instructions include receiving one or moredata feeds of transcribed audio data in a server interface concurrentlyas audio data is transcribed into text data for a live event. Thetranscribed audio data include American Standard Code for InformationInterchange (ASCII) text data and wrapper data. The wrapper dataincludes one or more client identifiers, in which the one or more clientidentifies includes a station name, a call sign, an area code, and/or azip code. The instructions also involve the following: communicating viaa server with one or more mobile devices that are configured to receivethe text data based on at least one user subscription; transmitting thetext data via the server to the one or more mobile devices concurrentlywith the reception of the transcribed audio data into the serverinterface; processing one or more user preferences of users of the oneor more mobile devices with a subscription server; and utilizing thesubscription server to authenticate one or more user subscriptions forreceiving the text data on the one or more mobile devices.

These and other implementations can optionally include one or more ofthe following features. The article can include instructions forutilizing the subscription server to authenticate one or moresubscribers that are permitted to receive the data feeds on the one ormore mobile devices as the data feeds are being received by the serverinterface. The authentication can involve utilizing at least one username or password. The one or more user preferences can include a userpreference for transcribed audio data for an audio event associated witha geographic location specified by the user or at least one mobiledevice utilizing a Global Positioning System (GPS) to specify thegeographic location. The user preference can include any of an areacode, a country code, a zip code, a state name, a country name, a cityname, a radio station identifier, and/or a television stationidentifier. The article can include instructions for utilizing asubscriber database to store information associated with the users ofthe one or more mobile devices. The article can include instructions forassociating the user preference with the wrapper data to associate adata feed corresponding to the specified geographic location. Thearticle can include instructions for executing instructions with thesubscription server relating to a subscription status, user accountinformation, payment information, and/or a subscription term orcondition. The article can include instructions for interacting with acommunication network that is coupled to a caption target that receivescaption data corresponding to the transcribed audio data. Thetranscribed audio data can be compatible with an Electronics IndustryAssociation 708 standard (EIA 708). The article can include instructionsfor categorizing any of the user preferences with the subscriptionserver. The categorization can include geographic information, areacodes, zip codes, station identifiers, event types, audio sources, videosources, client identifiers, news categories, sports news orinformation, and/or financial news or information. The article caninclude instructions for producing the text data from a digitaltelevision data stream or from an analog television data transmission.The instructions for transmitting the text data to the one or moremobile devices can include instructions for bypassing any text datastorage units during the transmission to the one or more mobile devices.The article can include comprising instructions for sending an alert oran indicator to at least one mobile device that live transcribed audiodata for a live audio event corresponding to at least one userpreference is available to be sent to the at least the one mobiledevice. The transcribed audio data can be a product of caption data thathas control codes removed from the caption data. The caption data can bea product of a stenocaptioning device. The stenocaptioning device caninclude a device with a stenographic keyboard, a computing device havingsoftware with captioning functionality, or a computing device havingvoice recognition software and captioning functionality. Theinstructions for transmitting the text data to the one or more devicescan include instructions for transmitting the text data to the one ormore devices within an order of a few seconds from an occurrence of theevent. The text data can be received at the one or more devices withinan order of a few seconds from an occurrence of the event.

Details of one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanyingdrawings and the description below. Other features and advantages willbe apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

DRAWING DESCRIPTIONS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an example captioning system.

FIGS. 2A-2B show block diagrams of examples of the captioning system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example of the captioning system withvoice-recognition software.

FIGS. 4A-4B show block diagrams of examples the captioning system withbroadcast radio.

FIGS. 5A-5B shows block diagrams of examples of the subscription-basedcaptioning system.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of an example of a subscription gateway.

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of an example subscription-based captioningsystem.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description makes reference to the accompanyingdrawings. The following also describes tasks, techniques, systems,apparatuses, and/or methods relating to fee and/or advertising based,and/or subscription based service and/or framework for closed captionedmedia. Other embodiments of the present invention are possible andmodifications may be made to the embodiments without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the following detaileddescription is not meant to limit the invention.

Moreover, for convenience in the ensuing description, some explanationsof terms are provided herein. However, the explanations contained hereinare intended to be exemplary only. They are not intended to limit theterms as they are described or referred to throughout the specification.Rather these explanations are meant to include any additional aspectsand/or examples of the terms as described and claimed herein and/or asused by one of skill in the art.

The following describes various tasks, techniques, and systems relatingto fee and/or subscription-based services for closed-captioned mediacontent. The present disclosure describes methods and systems thatinvolve a fee and/or subscription-based framework for sending real-timecaption data from a caption writer to one or more mobile devices througha communication network, such as the internet, while simultaneouslyhaving the ability to send caption data to traditional captioningdevices, such as a television or monitor that can display captionedinformation.

The caption writer refers to a person, such as a stenographer, whotranscribes data from a source presentation or an event. The data may befrom a “live” event, such as a sporting event, an academic presentation,or a financial news report. The data can be audio and/or video data thatis transcribed into text data. The caption writer may also transcribethe data remotely, in which the writer does not have to be physicallypresent to perform the transcription. The writer may remotely listen toand/or watch the event using a telephone and/or a monitor or televisionset. The event may or may not be an event that is broadcasted, such asan event using broadcast television or radio signals.

In some implementations, a subscriber system can use a password toauthenticate a subscriber for the service. User names and userpreferences may be stored in one or more databases. The subscribersystem can be used to alert mobile device users to captioned data thatmay be available from video and/or radio programmers. In someimplementations, the real-time data may be created voice recognitioncaptioning systems using stenographic theories and/or methodologies. Thecaption data can be produced in a data stream that may have controlcodes or may not have control codes. The data stream can be transmittedby a server or server program as Transmission Control Protocol withInternet Protocol (TCP/IP) packets to one or more mobile device users inreal-time.

In some implementations, real-time captioned data can be sent in areal-time data stream to mobile devices. The real-time captioned datacan be accessed by mobile device users on a subscription basis. Eachuser may have a user name and password, and the mobile device users mayhave the ability to select from among a group of content serviceproviders. In some implementations, the mobile device users can enterzip codes, telephone country codes, telephone number area codes, cityand state names by comparing zip code/phone or country codes preferencesto the content providers zip code/phone and complete telephone numbersto enables subscribers to choose from among a range of real-timecaptioning streams that may be available. Some of the captioning streamsmay be local and specific for a geographic region, such as for localnews, weather alerts, traffic reports, and emergency information. Eachmobile device user may set up individualized user preferences on thedesired content. An alert can be sent to a subscriber if the user'spreferences match the content provided by video and/or audio listedproviders in the database. The providers may have content that isspecific for various zip codes, country codes or area codes.

The caption information may be delivered from a provider of captioningservices or from a content provider and a captioning service thattranscribes the content provider's information. In some implementations,the real-time captioning/transcription can be provided from a contentprovider to enable transmission of captioned information with captioncodes to a captioning encoder, or to the captioning encoder and one ormore mobile devices simultaneously. Also, the real-time captioned datafrom caption service providers can be sent to a communications networkfrom decoded output of one or more content provider stations. Thereal-time captioned data can be verified in a database with subscriberpreferences. The system can provide for user authentication by usinguser names and passwords, and can issue alerts and notifications tosubscribers of the availability of real-time captioned data on videoand/or radio programs that have captioned data. In some implementations,the notifications may include notifying subscribers of the availabilityof real-time captioned data on video and radio programs that havecaptioned data that is outside the preferences of the subscribers, butmay be related to the preferences of the subscribers. For example, analert may be issued for a weather report of dangerous weather conditionsin a local area, and a subscriber may also be notified that captioneddata is available for local traffic conditions in that weather.

As shown in FIG. 1, the captioning system can simultaneously sendcaption information to traditional captioning devices/targets 150 andmobile devices 180, 182, 184, 186. The captioning targets 150 receivetranscribed data, which includes text data entered by the writer 110 andcontrol code data for the captioning device 120. The mobile devices 180,182, 184, 186 are connected to a communication network 160 and receivetext data, and not the control code data. The control code data can beremoved from the transcribed data prior to sending data to thecommunication network 160.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a captioning system, in which one ormore users receive real-time closed-caption data on one on more mobiledevices. The caption writer 110 listens to and/or watches an event, andtranscribes that event into text data using a transcription device 120.The transcription device 120 may include a transcription-type device ora stenographic-type device. The transcription device 120 includessoftware and/or hardware to aid in the captioning process, and may havesoftware to add control code data to the transcribed data in acaptioning process. The control code data are used in traditionalcaptioning devices for displaying captioned text on a monitor. Thetranscription device 120 may have software and a keyboard to enable thecaption writer 110 to transcribe at rates of up to hundreds of words perminute. For example, the device 120 may have a stenographic keyboard ormay include a computer having voice recognition software.

The transcribed data from the writer is sent to the transcription device120 that sends the transcribed data to an encoder 130. The encoder 130uses the control codes to encapsulate the transcribed data forpresentation on a caption target 150. The caption target 150 can referto a monitor or a television with closed-captioning functionality.

Instead of or in addition to sending transcribed data to an encoder, thetranscription device 120 may remove the control code data from thetranscribed data and send text data to a communication network 160 toenable for one or more users to access the text data. Examples ofcommunication networks include various forms or mediums of datacommunications, such as a local area network (“LAN”), a wide areanetwork (“WAN”), a wireless local area network (“WLAN”), and a personalarea network (“PAN”). Other examples of communication networks include amobile communication network using a multiple access technology, such asa cellular phone network with Code Division Multiple Access, (“CDMA”), asatellite network, and the Internet.

In sending the text data to the communication network 160, thetranscription device 120 may have software to remove the control codesfrom the transcribed data before sending the data to the communicationnetwork 160. In removing the control codes, the data that is transmittedto components includes text data. The text data can be sent to thecommunication network 160 and can be displayed on one or more mobiledevices 180, 182, 184, 186, such as computers, cell phones, and personaldigital assistants (PDAs). The communication network 160 interacts witha server 165 to communicate with multiple devices. The server 165 mayrefer to one or more hardware servers, or software servers, such as aserver program. The text data may be displayed as scrolling text data,in which the text is updated as the mobile device 180 receives text. Thedevices may be internet-compatible devices and may be connected througha cellular phone network. As used herein, a mobile device may also referto any general-purpose mobile machine that processes data according to aset of instructions that is stored internally either temporarily orpermanently, including, but not limited to, general-purpose mobilecomputers, laptop computers, internet-compatible mobile phones, wired orwireless laptop computers. Mobile devices also include satellite-basedtransmission devices, smart client devices (that actively fetch data andstore data locally), wireless devices, a cellular or mobile telephone,an electronic handheld unit for the wireless receipt and/or transmissionof data, a media content playable device, such as an MP3 player, or thelike. Each device may have a specific or unique internet address, inwhich the communication network may direct data to one or more devicesbased on the device's internet address. The system may use multicastingprotocols and be configured to broadcast the simultaneously transcribedaudio to text data streams from specific IP addresses assigned to thetext data streams/feeds from each content provider, in which the textdata streams are received by mobile devices that have users who areauthorized to receive the text data streams.

To provide for interaction with a user, each of the mobile devices 180,182, 184, 186 uses a display, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) or liquidcrystal display (LCD) monitor, which displays information to the userand a keyboard and/or a pointing device, such as a mouse or a trackball,to serve as input to the mobile device. The mobile device may providefeedback to the user with any form of sensory feedback, such as visualfeedback or tactile feedback.

The communication network 160 may include a back end component, such asa data server, or a middleware component, such as an application server,or a front end component, such as a client computer having a graphicaluser interface, portal, or a Web browser through which a user caninteract with an implementation of the systems and techniques describedhere. The mobile device 180 itself may have a front end component thatincludes a graphical user interface. In general, the communicationnetwork 160 and/or the mobile device 180 may use any combination of suchback end, middleware, or front end components.

The software (also known as programs, software tools or code) in thecaptioning system of FIG. 1 may include machine instructions for aprogrammable processor, and can be implemented in a high-levelprocedural and/or object-oriented programming language, and/or inassembly/machine language. The mobile device 180 may have an ApplicationProgramming Interface (API). For example, the mobile device 180 may alsorun on a Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) platform, anopen-source on-line application development platform for wireless CDMAdevices from Qualcomm, Inc. of San Diego, Calif. The BREW platform canallow application developers to write programs and scripts in varioussoftware languages, such as C, C++, JAVA, and XML. The mobile device 180may have a software media player, such as a Windows media player, thatcan show the text data and/or a video presentation of the transcribedevent.

As used herein, the term “machine-readable medium” refers to anycomputer program product, apparatus and/or device used to providemachine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor. Themachine-readable medium refers to magnetic discs, optical disks, memory,Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), and the like.

In the described system, the caption writer 110 can be located remotelyfrom the source of the transcribed event. Also, the data can be sent toa mobile device using the communication network 160, such as theinternet. Internet-compatible devices with displays can presentcaptioned text in real time or near real time. The transcribed data canbe presented on a traditional caption target 150 and a mobile device 186simultaneously.

In one implementation, a device can allow a user to pause text streamsto receive incoming phone calls or messages to the mobile device. A usermay resume receiving text streams from the point at which the mobiledevice paused to receive an incoming message or phone call.Alternatively, the user may download and review text data from a website that has the content of live text stream data that was saved fromthe point the data stream was paused to the time the data streamtransmission was resumed to be received by the mobile device.

FIG. 2A shows another implementation of a mobile captioning system. Thecaptioning system can simultaneously send caption information totraditional captioning devices/targets 250 and a mobile device 280. InFIG. 2A, the mobile captioning system can strip out the control codedata in the transcribed data in the device 220 to have plain ASCII text(American Standard Code for Information Interchange) to be sent to themobile device 280. Instead of or in addition to sending the data to themobile device, the mobile captioning system can send the transcribeddata with the control code data from the device 220 to an encoder 245 toprovide close captioning at a caption target 250, such as a televisionor monitor. This can be performed using remote caption writing, and maybe accomplished simultaneously and/or in real time or near real time.

In FIG. 2A, a writer 210 transcribes the event data that they hear orsee into a device 220 that sends the data to a computer 230. Thetranscription device 220 includes a computer with software to addcontrol code data to the text produced from the writer 210. The eventdata may or may not be broadcasted over conventional television or radiochannels. The data is sent from the computer 230 to a communicationnetwork 240 and then to an encoder 245. As described above, thecommunication network 240 may include a modem, an internet channel,and/or a telephony channel. The encoder 245 encaptions the data at thecaption target 250 so that the data is put into a format forpresentation on a television or a monitor, such as utilizing line 21 ofthe VBI as described above. The caption target 250 itself has a decoderto decode the encaptioned data from the encoder 245 prior to presentingthe text on the monitor.

Alternatively and/or simultaneously, software in the computer 230removes the control codes from the transcribed data and sends text datato a server 260. The server 260 may be implemented in hardware orsoftware. The server 260 sends the text data to the mobile device 280.In one implementation, the server may send the text data to the mobiledevice using a communication network, such as the internet. The mobiledevice 280 can receive the data from the communication network through arouter, such as a cable, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) router, or arouter in an enterprise or business environment.

The server 260 can send the text data to the mobile device 280 via aninternet address. In one implementation, the mobile device 280 has aparticular internet address. As the text data is routed through theinternet, the text data is routed to the internet address of aparticular mobile device 280. In this aspect, the mobile device 280 is aclient to the server 260.

Instead of being located in the computer 230, the software or program toremove the control code data from the transcribed data can bedistributed among one or more components of FIG. 2A. In oneimplementation, the control code data may be removed by software locatedin the device 220 itself, as described in FIG. 1. The transcribed datamay then be sent to the caption target 250 and/or the text data may besent to the mobile device 280 without using the computer 230.

In another implementation, both the caption target 250 and the mobiledevice 280 can receive the transcribed data with the control code data.The mobile device 280 itself may have software to remove the controlcode data. The device 280 can have control code removal abilitieswithout having to require control-code-removing software in anothercomponent of the system.

FIG. 2B shows another implementation of the captioning system describedwith respect to FIG. 2A. In FIG. 2B, the data is sent from the computer230 to the encoder 245 to encaption the data at the caption target 250.Text data is sent from the computer to the server 260. The server 260interacts with a mobile device 280 to present the text data on themobile device 280.

In an alternative implementation shown in FIG. 3, voice-recognitionsoftware can be used to generate caption information. Voice-recognitionsoftware 310 can be used instead of the writer 210 and the transcriptiondevice 220. The voice recognition software can convert speech/audioinput into transcribed data output. The transcribed data can includecontrol codes to be sent to the caption target 250. At the same time,the voice-recognition software can output the text of the transcribeddata to be sent to the mobile device 280.

FIG. 4A shows an implementation of the captioning system in whichbroadcast radio 410 is used as a source of information for the captionwriter 210. In this implementation, a caption writer 210 listens to aradio broadcast and transcribes the broadcast information into text datausing the transcription device 220. As described with respect to FIG. 2,the mobile captioning system can strip out the control code data in thetranscribed data in the device 220, or software in the computer 230 canremove the control codes from the transcribed data before sending thetext data to the server 260. The server 260 sends the text data to themobile device 280.

FIG. 4B shows another implementation of the captioning system shown inFIG. 2A with a radio broadcast 410 information source for the captionwriter 210. The captioning system can simultaneously send captioninformation to traditional captioning devices/targets 250 and a mobiledevice 280. The mobile captioning system can strip out the control codedata in the transcribed data in the device 220 to have text data (to besent to the mobile device 280). Instead of or in addition to sending thedata to the mobile device, the mobile captioning system can send thetranscribed data with the control code data from the device 220 to anencoder 245 to provide close captioning at a caption target 250, such asa television or monitor. This operation can be performed using remotecaption writing, and may be accomplished simultaneously and/or in realtime or near real time. The transcription of the radio broadcast 410provides transcribed data from a real time audio source.

FIG. 5A shows a block diagram of a subscription-based captioning system,in which one or more users receive real-time closed-caption data on oneon more mobile devices for subscribers of captioned content. Asdescribed above with respect to FIG. 1, the captioning system cansimultaneously send caption information to traditional captioningdevices/targets 150 and mobile devices 180, 182, 184, 186. Thecaptioning targets 150 receive transcribed data, which includes textdata entered by the writer 110 and control code data for the captioningdevice 120. The mobile devices 180, 182, 184, 186 are connected to acommunication network 160 and receive text data, and not the controlcode data. Typically, the control code data is removed from thetranscribed data prior to sending data to the communication network 160.A subscription gateway 520 receives information from the transcriptiondevice 120 and can send transcribed data to the encoder 130 and text andsubscriber data to the communication network 160 to send to mobiledevices 180, 182, 184, 186. The subscription gateway 520 may have adatabase with subscriber data, subscription preferences, passwords, usernames, subscription plans and accounts, and sources of available mediaand/or captioned content. The subscription gateway 520 may alsoauthenticate mobile device subscribers and can be used when subscribingnew users or unsubscribing users.

FIG. 5B shows another implementation of a subscription-based mobilecaptioning system. The captioning system can simultaneously send captioninformation to traditional captioning devices/targets 250 and a mobiledevice 280. In FIG. 5B, the mobile captioning system can strip out thecontrol code data in the transcribed data in the device 220 to haveplain ASCII text (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) tobe sent to the mobile device 280 via the subscription gateway 530. Insome implementations, voice recognition software can be used totranscribe the data into ASCII text data. Instead of or in addition tosending the data to the mobile device, the mobile captioning system cansend the transcribed data with the control code data from the device 220to an encoder 245 via the subscription gateway 530 to provide closecaptioning at a caption target 250, such as a television or monitor.This can be performed using remote caption writing, and may beaccomplished simultaneously and/or in real time or near real time.

In some exemplary implementations, the system may include acommunication network 240, such as the Internet, one or more mobiledevices 280 coupled to the communication network, and a subscriptiongateway 530. The subscription gateway may be a communication network ora server program. The subscription gateway 530 can receive transcribeddata from a transcription device 220. The data may include captioningcontrol codes or the control codes may be removed by a computer usingcontrol code removal software 230. In some implementations, thesubscription gateway 530 can transmit data to a communication networkwhich will distribute data to a caption encoder 245. The subscriptiongateway may distribute text data to a server device 260 that mayauthenticate subscriber data by a user name and a password. The mobiledevice 280 can display a menu of video, radio, and event programmingthat is currently transcribed for selection by the subscriber.

In another implementation, the transcription device can transmit data tothe subscription gateway. The subscription gateway may be connected to acommunication network which can transmit authentication data, user name,password data, and other subscriber data information from mobile deviceusers. The subscription gateway can provide data encryption andauthentication of subscriber-related data using the user names andpassword authentication.

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary block diagram of a subscription gateway 610.The subscription gateway 610 includes a transcription device interface620 to interact with an external transcription device 670, an encoderinterface 640 to interact with an external encoder 680, a subscriberdatabase and data security (encryption) features 625, and a subscriberdatabase interface 630 to interact with an external subscriber database685. The subscription gateway 610 includes a communication networkinterface 660 to interact with a communication network 675. Thesubscription gateway 610 includes a server interface 650 to interactwith an external server 690 and mobile devices 695 coupled to the server690. In some implementations, the server 690 may be part of thecommunication network 675. In other implementations, the communicationnetwork 675 may couple to one or more mobile devices 695 and/or one ormore stations, content providers, or captioning service providers.

In one exemplary implementation, the server interface 650 can compareuser name and password authentication information and distributereal-time transcribed information to the server 690. The serverinterface 650 can process the authenticated subscriber information and,according to user preferences, transmit the transcribed data to theserver 690, which is connected to one or more mobile devices 695. In oneexemplary implementation, the mobile device user/subscriber can enter azip code or a country code to display a menu selection of eventprogramming, audio broadcasts, and/or video programming that are beingtranscribed in real-time, and are available for selection by asubscriber.

In another exemplary implementation, the server interface 650 cancompare real-time transcribed data streams from video and radioproviders, which can be inserted in the communication network 675 to thecommunication interface 660 of the subscription gateway 610. Thecommunication interface 660 may be implemented in hardware or software.In some implementations, the communication interface 660 can be used totransmit an alert message to subscribers of the availability of datastreams of video and/or radio programming in subscriber profiles by zipcode and/or country code. The system can allow the subscriber to selecta video program provider for a particular zip code for emergencynotifications, as well as to enter user names and passwords in themobile device. The mobile devices could transmit data via thecommunication network 675 to the communication network interface 660.Alternatively, the mobile devices 695 could transmit data via the server690 to the server interface 650. In some implementations, thecommunication network interface device 660 can authenticate the usernames and password information from the external subscriber database 685through the subscriber data interface 630. Alternatively, thecommunication network interface device 660 can authenticate the usernames and password information from the internal subscriber database625. The listing of transcribed real-time data may be transmitted to theserver interface 650 and to the server 690. After authentication andselection of real-time data stream from a content provider, the mobiledevice 695 can receive the selected data stream through thecommunication network 675. Mobile device users with subscriptions can benotified of available data streams of transcribed content from videoand/or radio programmers for user-specified zip codes, area codes, orcountry codes. The notifications may be sent from communicationinterface 660 with an e-mail alert or an audible alert.

In another implementation, the communication network 675 may receivecaptioned data from the communication network interface 660. In someexemplary implementations, the communication network interface 660 mayremove control codes, if any, and transmit real-time text data receivedfrom a communication network to mobile devices 695 using the server 690and the server interface 650. The communication network 675 may receivecaptioned data from decoded output of an encoder device at a videoand/or radio program station. The communication network 675 may alsoreceive caption data transcribed using voice-recognition technologies orthrough stenographic techniques of an audio broadcast. The received datamay contain control codes or be in raw text form. Data passing throughthe subscription gateway may be encrypted by data security features 625,in which the data security features may be implemented in hardware orsoftware. The data, whether encrypted or unencrypted, can be sent tocommunication network interface 660. In some implementations, subscriberauthentication by user name and password can be performed by thesubscriber data interface 630 accessing an external subscriber database685. Caption content subscribers on mobile devices can enter a user nameand a password on a mobile device and access streaming data afterauthentication. The subscribers can access transcribed, captioned videoand/or radio programming being transmitted in real-time using real-timetranscription technologies, such as voice recognition technology orstenographic-based technology.

In other implementations, video and/or radio station programmers cansend alerts and messages to the communication network 675. Thecommunication network 675 may include the apparatuses of an internetservice provider that may have the capabilities of sending notificationsof emergency and/or special reports of captioned data being transmittedby the station providers. The communication network interface 660 mayreceive the captioned data with or without control codes.

In some implementations, the subscriber data interface 630 may comparedata provided by communication network 675 with such data provided inthe internal database 625 or external database 685, and match stationcall sign data provided by stations to a zip code and/or a country code.In some implementations, the user preference data can be matched to thecall sign data of stations of content providers to automatically matchthe news, messages, and alerts of the stations to a local zip code orcountry code for the subscriber. In these implementations, subscriberscan automatically be able to receive captioned content from stations ofcontent providers, such as a local news television station or a radiostation. In some implementations, the content from the stations are notnecessarily limited to the area code where the subscriber is located,but a subscriber may want to receive alerts and messages from stationslocated in other jurisdictions. For example the subscriber may be in onelocation (e.g., San Diego, Calif., area code 619) with their mobiledevice and may have user preferences with an area code (e.g., Charlotte,N.C., area code 704) to receive alerts and notifications for a differentlocation.

In some implementations, the subscriber may have preferences forcaptioned real-time data from video and/or audio providers based onselected zip codes, area codes, or country codes of the video and audioproviders. The subscriber data may be authenticated by the subscriberdata interface 630. The subscriber database interface 630 may comparesubscriber preferences and profiles, and can transmit alerts via thecommunication network 675 to one or more mobile device subscribers. Insome implementations, the mobile device subscribers may be mobile phonesubscribers. In other implementations, the mobile device subscribers maybe using WiMax, the IEEE 802.16 Air Interface Standard. The mobiledevice subscribers can enter a user name and a password forauthentication via the subscriber database interface 630.

In some implementations, the captioned data stream for a selectedcaptioned video and/or radio program can be sent to the server interface650 which can remove control codes, if any, and transmit the data to theserver 690. The server can transmit TCP/IP data of real-time captioneddata with no control codes to the communication network 675, which canmulticast the captioned data to authenticated subscribers for receipt onone or more mobile devices.

In some implementations, the subscribers may have a free subscription toone or more content providers. The content providers can interact with acaption service provider to provide caption and/or transcriptionservices to subscribers. In other implementations, the subscribers mayhave a fee-based subscription to the contents providers. Alternatively,the subscribers may have a free subscription to some free contentproviders and a fee-based subscription to fee-based content providers.The subscribers may have free or fee-based subscriptions to one or morecaption service providers. The content providers and/or the captionservice providers may provide captioned and/or transcribed data free fora limited time and for a fee at a later time. Subscription information,accounts, payments, terms and related information on the subscribers maybe maintained in the subscription gateway database 625 and/or theexternal subscriber database 685.

The subscription gateway 610 may be implemented in software and/orhardware. One or more components (e.g., communication network interface660, subscriber database interface 630, server interface 650) of thesubscription gateway 610 may be implemented in software and/or hardware.The subscriber preferences may be sent from a webpage over the Internetto be entered into the subscription gateway.

In analog television, a caption standard is defined by EIA-608(Electronic Industry Association), and in the digital domain HD-SDI, byan EIA-708 standard or a variation of that standard. In digitaltelevision, the digital television bit stream of information can beencapsulated in a transport protocol which includes video, user databits, a dtvcc caption channel. In the dtvcc caption channel, captionservice 1, formerly line 21 data in the analog format, and additionalcaption service data streams can be contained in the bit stream. In someimplementations in digital transmission, the data rate for closedcaptioned data can be 9600 bps, enabling many additional features to beimplemented, such as user control over font size, color, and other textcharacteristics.

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of an example subscription-based captioningsystem. In particular, the example shown in FIG. 7 can be used withanalog television and/or digital television (e.g., employing EIA-608and/or EIA-708). In the FIG. 7, one or more writers 110 b, 110 c, 110 csend multiple feeds of information to caption encoders 711, 712, 713,where the output of the caption encoders 711, 712, 713 are sent tonetwork interfaces 717, 718, 719. The data sent at the output of thecaption encoders 711, 712, 713 and/or the data from the output of thenetwork interfaces 717, 718, 719 may be text data and a data wrapper. Adata wrapper can include client identifiers (e.g., a station name, acall sign, an area code, and/or a zip code, etc.), in which the datawrapper is transmitted via the Internet 705 to a server interface 730and a subscription server 725 in the subscription gateway 720.

In some implementations, the data from the writers 110 b, 110 c, 110 dmay be caption data that includes audio data that is translated intotext data during the occurrence of an audio event, and the captionencoder 711, 712, 713 can have functionality to decode the caption datato produce ASCII text data. In these implementations, the captionencoders 711, 712, 713 and/or the network interfaces 717, 718, 719 canhave functionality to add a wrapper with the ASCII text data in a datastream to the Internet 705.

The subscription gateway 720 in FIG. 7 includes the subscription server725, the server interface 730, and a server 735. The server 730 can havefunctionality to transmit selected user preferences and/or text feedsto/from mobile devices 182, 184. The subscription server 725 can storeand/or categorize user preferences, such as geographic information, areacodes, zip codes, station identifiers, event types, audio and/or videosources, client identifiers, news categories, sports news andinformation, financial news and information, as well as authenticationdata. The subscription server 725 authenticates mobile devices 182, 184,data for users of mobile devices 182, 184, and/or requests and/or datafrom mobile devices 182, 184. The subscription server 725 can interactwith the server interface 730 to authorize data transmission with one ormore mobile devices. In some implementations, data may be transmittedto/from the mobile devices 182, 184 as a function of user preferencesand/or requests from users of the mobile devices 182, 184. Theauthentication data may include passwords, user names, subscriptionstatuses, user account information, payment information, subscriptionterms and conditions, and the like. The subscription server 725, serverinterface 730, and server 735 may be located within one physical unit ormay be distributed servers. The servers 725, 730, 735 and/or thesubscription gateway 720 may be implemented in hardware and/or softwarein any combination. In some implementations, the subscription gateway720 may be the same subscription gateway as FIG. 6 or similar to thesubscription gateway of FIG. 6, with corresponding components therein.The event can be a broadcasted media event, which can include audio.

The captioning system can simultaneously send caption information tocaptioning devices/targets 150 and mobile devices 180, 182. Thecaptioning targets 150 receive transcribed data, which includes textdata entered by the writer 110 a and control code data for thecaptioning device 120. The transcription device 120 can interact with acommunication network 160, and the communication network 160 caninteract with the server interface 730 and the Internet 705. Thecommunication network 160 can send or receive text and/or data to orfrom the server interface 730 and/or the Internet 705. The system can beconfigured for transfer of the text data over a server to the one ormore mobile devices and transfer of caption data to the captioningdevice. The system can be configured for transfers of the text data andcaption data that occur coincidentally with the transcribing of audiofor the audio event. The system can be configured for concurrenttransfer of the text data to the one or more mobile devices and thecaption data to the captioning device. The system can transfer the textdata to at least two of the mobile devices simultaneously.

In some implementations, because audio is being transcribed into textdata, the system requires no video stream to be sent to the mobiledevice. In some of these implementations, because ASCII text data issent to the mobile device, the system resources and overhead required toquickly transmit text data to the mobile device can be significantlylower than when transmitting video data, thus providing efficiency, lowoverhead, and fast response times for the overall system.

In some embodiments, there can be multiple writers, transcriptiondevices, encoders, and caption targets in parallel that are arrangedsimilar to writer 110 a, transcription device 120, encoder 130, andcaption target 150 in FIG. 7 or the other figures. These parallelsources of transcribed audio data can be transmitted to thecommunication network 160 and the server interface 730 in thesubscription gateway 720.

In some implementations, a client device can encapsulate the text data,which can represent a text version of audio data that was simultaneouslytranscribed with the occurrence of an event. In some implementationsusing digital television (e.g., HD TV), the ASCII text data can beextracted from the encoded DTV transport bit stream as service field 1data by using an internal module to decode the ASCII text, and thusremoving it from the encoded TV signal. In some implementations, theencoder may decode the EIA 608 NTSC caption data, which may beencapsulated in the DTV bit stream by using an internal decoder moduleor an external line 21 decoder box. The decoded text data may be outputby the encoder using a EIA 608 caption stream through an internal modulein an encoder to output the text to the client. In otherimplementations, an unconverted 608 to 708 caption data stream may bedecoded by an internal module in an encoder to output ASCII text withoutcontrol codes and to transmit via client network.

In some implementations, a subscription system can allow users to createand/or update user preferences through a web portal (e.g., accessing thesubscriber database in the subscription gateway) and/or directly from amobile device to access the subscriber database. In someimplementations, the mobile device may have Global Positioning System(GPS) capability, and the mobile device user can have the option to havethe user preferences to be automatically (e.g., without humanintervention) and instantly updated to reflect user preferenceinformation based on where the mobile device is located. In someimplementations, the mobile device with the GPS capability employingthis subscription system can display all potential audio/text feedscoming from around the geographic area of the mobile device. The updatesand/or display of audio/text feeds can occur automatically wherever themobile device is located (including any changes in location of themobile device).

Because the mobile device immediately receives ASCII text fromtranscribed audio data for a current/live event, no storage is requiredfor the audio/text feeds. In some instances, even though some or all ofthe user preferences may be stored on the mobile devices, no storage isrequired at all for the audio/text feeds for operation of thesubscription system for any of the implementations shown herein. In someof these instances, no storage of the audio/text feeds (e.g., audiodata, caption data, and/or ASCII text data streams) is required anywherein the subscription system, including the server, communication network,subscription gateway, and/or the mobile devices.

In one example application, a traveler in Los Angeles might specify inhis user preferences to have access to all news streams from areas codesfor “213”, “818”, or “760” if he is travelling via airplane to New Yorkarea code “212”. The mobile device user can select the option to havehis user preferences to be automatically and instantly updated toreflect user preference information based on where the mobile device islocated. Accordingly, when his plane lands in Chicago for a stop or tochange planes, his user preferences for his mobile device can beautomatically and immediately updated via GPS to have all Chicago areacodes (e.g., area code “312”) to enable live streams of text data (e.g.,ASCII text from translated audio data for a current/live event) to besent to his mobile device at that time in that location.

Any of the implementations described herein can be configured forlive/current transmission of text data from transcribed audio tomultiple mobile devices while an audio event is occurring. For example,these implementations can be used by a live/current media feed from atelevision station to transmit live/current news, reports,announcements, live programs, or live sporting events to one or moremobile devices, while combining the implementations with othertechnologies to transmit pre-recorded programs, such as pre-recordedtelevision shows, movies, commercials, recordings, and advertisements.The pre-recorded programs may include audio that was transcribed intotext data at a time before an occurrence of live/current transmission oftranscribed audio data for a live/current audio event. The pre-recordedprogramming may have audio and/or transcribed audio data that was storedon a storage unit (e.g., DVD, CD, tape, a machine-readable medium)and/or storage device (e.g., memory, hard drive, flash drive, a machinereading data from the machine-readable medium). Any of theimplementations herein can be used exclusively for live/currenttransmission of transcribed data for a live/current audio event to oneor more mobile devices and/or one or more caption targetssimultaneously, in which the transcribed text data may not be stored onany storage unit and/or device before it is received into the one ormore mobile devices and/or the one or more caption targets.

Other implementations may be within the scope of the drawings and thefollowing claims.

1. A system for providing information for one or more mobile devices,the system comprising: a server for communicating to the one or moremobile devices for one or more users, wherein the one or more mobiledevices comprises Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities; asubscription gateway configured to receive a user preference fortranscribed audio for an audio event associated with a geographiclocation specified by the user, the user preference comprising any of anarea code, a country code, a zip code, a state name, a country name, acity name, a radio station identifier, or a television stationidentifier, the subscription gateway comprising a subscriber database tostore information associated with the users of the one or more mobiledevices, and wherein at least one of the mobile devices comprises asoftware selection for a user option to utilize the GPS capabilities toupdate the user preference based on a geographic location of the mobiledevice with a selected user option; a stenocaptioning device configuredfor transcribing audio for the audio event simultaneously with anoccurrence of the audio event, the stenocaptioning device furtherconfigured to generate caption data that comprises transcribed data andcontrol code data; a captioning device to receive the caption data; anda software tool configured to remove the control code data from thecaption data to generate American Standard Code for InformationInterchange (ASCII) text data, wherein the system is configured fortransfer of the text data over the server to the one or more mobiledevices and transfer of caption data to the captioning device, whereinthe system is configured for transfers of the text data and caption datathat occur coincidentally with the transcribing of audio for the audioevent, and wherein the system is configured for concurrent transfer ofthe text data to the one or more mobile devices and the caption data tothe captioning device.
 2. The system in accordance with claim 1, whereinthe system is configured to transfer the text data to at least two ofthe mobile devices simultaneously.
 3. The system in accordance withclaim 1, further comprising a communication network with Interactfunctionality, and wherein the subscription gateway is configured tosend notices and alerts to users of the one or more mobile devices basedon at least one user preference.
 4. The system in accordance with claim1, further comprising a subscription database that is external to thesubscription gateway to store information associated with the users ofthe one or more mobile devices or the user of the captioning device,wherein the user preference further comprises a request for thetranscribed audio.
 5. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein atleast one of the devices comprises an Internet Protocol, wherein theradio and television station identifiers are associated with at leastone audio source.
 6. The system in accordance with claim 5, furthercomprising a decoder to decode the caption data for presentation on thecaptioning device, wherein the captioning device comprises a deviceincluding captioning functionality.
 7. The system in accordance withclaim 1, wherein the stenocaptioning device comprises a device with astenographic keyboard, a computing device having software withcaptioning functionality, or a computing device having voice recognitionsoftware and captioning functionality.
 8. The system in accordance withclaim 1, wherein the subscription gateway comprises: a transcriptiondevice interface to interact with the stenocaptioning device; an encoderinterface to interact with an external encoder that encodes the captiondata; a subscriber database interface to interact with an externalsubscriber database configured to store information associated with theusers of the one or more mobile devices or the user of the captioningdevice, wherein the information associated with the any of the userscomprises subscriber preferences for the transcribed audio; acommunication network interface to interact with a communicationnetwork; and a server interface to interact with the server, wherein theone or more mobile devices are configured to interact with the serverand the communication network.
 9. A method for sending transcribed audioinformation to one or more mobile devices, the method comprising:communicating, via a server, to the one or more mobile devices for oneor more users, wherein the one or more mobile devices comprises GlobalPositioning System (GPS) capabilities; receiving, via a subscriptiongateway, a user preference for transcribed audio for an audio eventassociated with a geographic location specified by the user, the userpreference comprising any of an area code, a country code, a zip code, astate name, a country name, a city name, a radio station identifier, ora television station identifier, the subscription gateway comprising asubscriber database to store information associated with the users ofthe one or more mobile devices, and wherein at least one of the mobiledevices comprises a software selection for a user option to utilize theGPS capabilities to update the user preference based on a geographiclocation of the mobile device with a selected user option; transcribingaudio with a stenocaptioning device for the audio event simultaneouslywith an occurrence of the audio event, the stenocaptioning device beingconfigured to generate caption data that comprises transcribed data andcontrol code data; receiving the caption data with a captioning device;removing the control code data from the caption data with a softwaretool to generate American Standard Code for Information Interchange(ASCII) text data; transferring the text data over the server to the oneor more mobile devices; and transferring the caption data to thecaptioning device; wherein the transfers of the text data and captiondata occur coincidentally with the transcribing of audio for the audioevent, and wherein there is concurrent transfer of the text data to theone or more mobile devices and the caption data to the captioningdevice.
 10. The method in accordance with claim 9, wherein the userpreference for transcribed audio for the audio event comprises apreference for a type of audio event.
 11. The method in accordance withclaim 9, the method further comprising: searching the subscriberdatabase to locate one or more users subscribed to receive the text datafor the audio event.
 12. The method in accordance with claim 11, furthercomprising: receiving information associated with zip codes, telephonecountry codes, telephone number area codes, the city name, the statename, the country name, the radio station identifier, or the televisionstation identifier from the one or more mobile devices; comparing any ofthe received information with zip codes, telephone country codes,telephone number area codes, radio station identifiers, televisionstation identifiers, audio sources, video sources, or city, state, orcountry names in the database; and providing the text data to the one ormore mobile devices when information received from the one or moremobile devices corresponds with similar information in the database. 13.The method in accordance with claim 9, wherein any of the transfers ofdata utilizes a communication network comprising anyone of a satellitechannel, a telephony channel, an optical channel, a wireless channel, acable channel, and an Internet channel, and wherein data related to theaudio event is received based on the geographic location associated withany of the following: zip codes, telephone country codes, telephonenumber area codes, the city name, the state name, the country name, theradio station identifier, or the television station identifier, whereinthe transcribed audio is associated with news, a weather report, atraffic report, a sporting event, a broadcasted event, or emergencyinformation.
 14. The method in accordance with claim 9, furthercomprising presenting one or more data streams of text from one or moreaudio events to users using the one or more mobile devices based on userpreferences.
 15. The method in accordance with claim 9, furthercomprising: authenticating users of the one or more mobile devices basedon user names and passwords in one or more databases; and transferringthe text data to at least two of the mobile devices simultaneously,wherein the transfer to a first one of the at least two mobile devicesat least partially overlaps in time with the transfer to a second one ofthe at least two mobile devices.
 16. The method in accordance with claim9, further comprising encrypting the text data prior to transferring thetext data to the one or more mobile devices, wherein the radio andtelevision station identifiers are associated with at least one audiosource.
 17. The method in accordance with claim 9, further comprisingtransferring data to the one or more devices for displaying the textdata, the user preference, a menu of audio events, or geographiclocation information.
 18. The method in accordance with claim 17,wherein transferring data to the one or more devices comprisestransferring data to the one or more devices within five seconds fromthe occurrence of the audio event.
 19. The method in accordance withclaim 17, wherein transferring data to the one or more devices comprisestransferring data to the one or more devices within thirty seconds fromthe occurrence of the audio event.
 20. The method in accordance withclaim 17, wherein transferring data to the one or more devices comprisestransferring data to the one or more devices within twenty seconds fromthe occurrence of the audio event.
 21. The method in accordance withclaim 17, wherein transferring data to the one or more devices comprisestransferring data to the one or more devices within ten seconds from theoccurrence of the audio event.
 22. The method in accordance with claim17, further comprising receiving data at the one or more devices withinthirty seconds from the occurrence of the audio event.
 23. An articlecomprising a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructionsoperable to cause a machine to perform operations comprising:communicating, via a server, to one or more mobile devices for one ormore users, wherein the one or more mobile devices comprises GlobalPositioning System (GPS) capabilities; receiving, via a subscriptiongateway, a user preference for transcribed audio for an audio eventassociated with a geographic location specified by the user, the userpreference comprising any of an area code, a country code, a zip code, astate name, a country name, a city name, a radio station identifier, ora television station identifier, the subscription gateway comprising asubscriber database to store information associated with the users ofthe one or more mobile devices, and wherein at least one of the mobiledevices comprises a software selection for a user option to utilize theGPS capabilities to update the user preference based on a geographiclocation of the mobile device with a selected user option; transcribingaudio with a stenocaptioning device for the audio event simultaneouslywith an occurrence of the audio event, the stenocaptioning device beingconfigured to generate caption data that comprises transcribed data andcontrol code data; receiving the caption data with a captioning device;removing the control code data from the caption data with a softwaretool to generate American Standard Code for Information Interchange(ASCII) text data; transferring the text data over the server to the oneor more mobile devices; and transferring the caption data to thecaptioning device; wherein the transfers of the text data and captiondata occur coincidentally with the transcribing of audio for the audioevent, and wherein there is concurrent transfer of the text data to theone or more mobile devices and the caption data to the captioningdevice.
 24. The article in accordance with claim 23, wherein thetranscribed data is generated from the stenocaptioning device, acomputing device having software with captioning functionality, or acomputing device including voice recognition software and captioningfunctionality.
 25. The article in accordance with claim 23, furthercomprising instructions operable to cause the machine to performoperations comprising: receiving information from one of the mobiledevices for user preferences for media content to be sent to the mobiledevice; searching one or more databases for media content, wherein themedia content comprises streaming ASCII text data of the transcribedaudio; and sending the text data to the mobile device that sent theinformation corresponding with the user preference, the user preferencefurther comprising any of a video source identifier, or an audio sourceidentifier.
 26. The article in accordance with claim 25, furthercomprising instructions for selecting the media content based on any ofthe zip code, the area code, the country code, the radio stationidentifier, the television station identifier, the audio sourceidentifier, or the video source identifier, wherein the radio andtelevision station identifiers are associated with at least one audiosource.
 27. The article in accordance with claim 25, further comprisinginstructions for sending an alert or an indicator to the mobile devicethat the transcribed audio corresponding to user preferences isavailable to be sent to the mobile device.
 28. The article in accordancewith claim 25, wherein the media content comprises any of the following:a news report, a weather report, a traffic report, a sporting event, abroadcasted event, or emergency information that is associated with anyof the zip code, the area code, the country code, the city name, thestate name, the country name, the radio station identifier, thetelevision station identifier, the audio source identifier, or the videosource identifier.
 29. The article in accordance with claim 23, furthercomprising instructions for displaying the text data on the one or moremobile devices as the text data arrives to the one or more mobiledevices.
 30. The article in accordance with claim 29, further comprisinginstructions to cause the text data to be displayed as scrolling text,and further comprising instructions to transfer the text data via theInternet.